9. Sex rations

In 1980, three judges, Lord Justice Ormrod, Lord Justice Dunn and Mr Justice Arnold ruled that a woman who rationed sex with her husband to once per week was behaving reasonably. Tell that to her husband!

7. Pringles are not crisps

Proctor & Gamble, makers of Pringles crisps saved millions of pounds on VAT after the UK High Court ruled the product is not a crisp. As Pringles aren?t officially crisp they are exempt from the 17.5% tax that applies to “potato crisps, potato sticks, potato puffs and similar products made from the potato, or from potato flour, or from potato starch” defined in the 1994 VAT Act. Now we need the High Court to decide once and for all if Jaffa Cakes are a cake or a biscuit?

credit: flickr/thechorompys

6. Mole Man

5. Deathstar vs the little guy

A judge ruled that British prop designer, Andrew Ainsworth, could carry on selling replica Star Wars stormtrooper outfits in the UK despite going up against Star Wars creator George Lucas in a row over copyright. We?re guessing that even Lucas wouldn?t have made a fuss over any Ja Ja Binx outfits being sold without his permission.

4. An Inconvenient Lie

The UK High Court ruled that schools must warn children watching Al Gore?s film, ?An Inconvenient Truth? that it promotes ?partisan political views?. Never mind the warning about promoting partisan views, just make sure it carries the warning ?may induce boredom?

3. Virgin Ring

[Insert own gag here]. A schoolgirl lost her fight to wear a virginity ring as a sign of Christian faith. Lydia Playfoot, 16, wasn?t allowed to wear the ring as it was against school regulations.

2. He really is dead ? look

A mother brought her sons ashes into court to prove he was dead after the DVLA continued to send letters addressed to her dead son two years after his death. Julie Strange, had sent her son?s death certificate to the DVLA, but they issued a court summons. Ms Strange took her son?s ashes into the court room and the prosecution was immediately dropped.

1. Chopping meat too loudly

A butcher appeared before a magistrates court after being accused of repeated breaches of a noise abatement order. Brian Clapton was told that he had to stop chopping meat between 6am to 8am after the council received complaints from a neighbour.

Noise and nuisance officer Timothy Jones (is that even a real job), said: ‘sounded like someone was carrying out shop refurbishment, such was the sound in the complainant’s flat’.

Have we missed any other bizarre court cases in the UK? Let us know in the comment section below.

6 Comments

dw | 29 October, 2008

re number 7. Jaffa Cakes did have their day in court for exactly the same reason as pringles.
They were found to be cakes. A special giant size jaffa cake was made to demonstrate that they just small cakes instead of “fancy biscuits” (which would have been charged VAT)

I read about the pringles thing the other day. that is so funny and bizarre. It’d be like saying cigs are atmosphere enhancers

Kelly | 29 October, 2008

My brother (Paul Thatcher) got taken to court for stealing a teabag, when he was homeless, to make himself a cup of tea.

Jordan | 4 November, 2008

You can find tons of bizarre crimes at the website http://www.oldbaileyonline.org. Its fascinating. These are all the proceedings from court hearings on criminal trials from 1690-1772 at the Old Bailey. you can search the type of crime, verdict, punishment and time period.

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